The Government's independent public body, the Audit Commission's Housing Inspectorate, rated Stockport Homes as excellent with excellent prospects for improvement following a very detailed inspection.
According to the inspector's report:
Stockport Homes is providing easy to access, responsive services, which have a strong customer care focus. There is a very real commitment to ensuring services are equitable and accessible to all customers.
The customer facing services, such as lettings, homelessness, income management, estate and tenancy services, asset management and repairs services are all providing a good service to customers.
Stockport Homes Limited (SHL) can demonstrate strong leadership, robust planning and effective performance management systems, which have allowed it to focus on improving services while forming the ALMO, without reducing services to customers.
The three-star result means council homes across the borough will benefit from extra funding. £40.36m of this funding will be available in the first two years, followed by a potential £60 million over the period 2008 - 2010.
This money will help bring each home up to the Decent Homes Standard, by December 2010. Stockport Homes will achieve this by investing in several programmes of improvement works to council homes. The key areas of improvement include modernised kitchens, improved heating systems, roofing, bathrooms and communal area improvements.
Helen McHale, Chief Executive of Stockport Homes, said: "We have worked hard to make improvements in our services to provide excellent services for our customers. The news that we have secured extra funding means we can make a real difference to our estates."
So what's next? Charter Mark is a national award for organisations demonstrating excellence in customer service. Given the excellent level of customer service already delivered by Stockport Homes staff, an application for assessment was submitted in March 2007. In May 2007, Stockport Homes had an on site assessment against the requirements of the Charter Mark quality standard. The assessor visited many sites, checked documents and spoke to a range of people, including 11 partners and contractors, 28 staff members, and 63 customers.
Stockport Homes recently received the assessor's report. Not only was Stockport Homes awarded the Charter Mark, it scored the maximum possible in every criteria: 100%, which is an outstanding result.
Chief Executive, Helen McHale said: "Achieving Charter Mark for Stockport Homes Services is one of our achievements of which I am most proud. Charter Mark is concerned almost exclusively with the customer experience and awards us success in the area of most importance to us, customer focus."
Some key areas of strength were identified during the Charter Mark process, including the following:
A great degree of consistency displayed in what was said by over 100 people who spoke to the assessor.
Evidence of passion and enthusiasm displayed by all staff for the work they do and for the delivery of excellent services to all customers.
The 'true' nature of partnership arrangements - in all cases it was clear what both parties derive from the partnership arrangements.
A real and effective focus on the needs of customers throughout all areas of the organisation.
There appears to be a deliberate blurring of the boundaries between staff roles - this ensures that issues are dealt with quickly and effectively rather than having to be referred through the system to 'appropriate' staff members.
The report also went on to say: "The overall impression is of an organisation that has successfully developed a culture of quality, which strives to make sure that its customers' needs are put at the forefront of all it does."
Stockport Homes' performance against the standard will be reviewed on an annual basis, with a full reassessment after three years.
For further information, please contact Jane Wresdell, Marketing & Communications Manager, Directorate of Quality, Stockport Homes, on 0161 474 2863.
New proposals could see social housing tenants who consistently get a poor service - such as long waits for repairs, and failure to deal with concerns about poor security - being able to report their landlord to a new, independent social housing watchdog and trigger action to put the problems they are facing right.
In her speech at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Conference and Exhibition 2007, in Harrogate, Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly supported measures that will be put forward as part of the most wide-ranging review of social housing regulation in over 30 years.
A new watchdog would have the authority to impose a wide range of penalties and sanctions on failing social landlords, including the power to trigger a change of management, or cap rent rises and help ensure tenants receive at least a minimum standard of service.
Tenants and local councils will be able to trigger these penalties by bringing concerns to the watchdog's attention.
At the same time, good social landlords will be freed from red-tape, allowing them to concentrate on getting housing management services right and building more homes. The change would be part of a new deal with the profession, giving new freedoms to good landlords to help them improve services still further.
New proposals will set out how Communities England, the new housing and regeneration agency, will place a clearer, strengthened focus on supporting local areas to do more to deliver both the social and private homes the country needs.
The package of proposals to give tenants a greater voice follows an independent six-month review of regulation, conducted by Professor Martin Cave of Warwick University.
The Government will also publish new proposals to make it easier for tenants to take over the day-to-day management of council estates. A simpler Right to Manage process will strip away a number of layers of bureaucracy, making it easier for local authority tenants to take control of day-to-day management of housing repairs, maintenance and refurbishments.
At present, it can take more than six years for tenants to set up a tenant management organisation; under new proposals this could be cut to around two years. While not a solution for every area, research shows satisfaction and service levels are higher when tenants have a greater role in management.
Eight organisations were recognised by the Audit Commission in the Housing Excellence Awards 2006/07. They have all been given the maximum three-star rating, awarded for excellent services. The awards were presented at the CIH Conference by Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.
In the reports, the housing inspectors highlighted a number of key strengths resulting in the three-star ratings:
Carrick Housing's services are customer focused with a culture of involving residents in developing all aspects of service delivery. High performance over a wide range of service areas has been sustained with some examples of innovation and further investment in priority areas.
Cheltenham Borough Homes performs strongly in all areas of service delivery and its strong customer focus was reflected in high levels of satisfaction with community engagement, which is central to the organisation's work.
Inspectors gave Golden Gates Housing in Warrington an excellent rating for their high standards of customer care and the effective joint working in place to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Hampshire and its partners in the primary care trust, district councils and probation service have made excellent progress in re-shaping local services to address shared priorities, with many decisions taken at district level.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation has demonstrated the ability to deliver continuous improvement in a number of key service areas. This has been in conjunction with support from residents, an effective board, and dedicated staff across the organisation.
The customer focus at Stockport Homes has resulted in positive and tangible outcomes for its residents. The organisation demonstrated a "can do" ethos, strong leadership, robust planning, effective performance management systems, and a culture of continuous improvement.
Tower Homes, which operates in London, was awarded the rating for its excellent management of low cost home ownership housing. Performance across a range of service areas was some of the best seen, with the organisation taking great pride in the quality of services provided to residents and demonstrating clear ambitions to improve services still further.
Westminster's CityWest Homes has continued to improve from an already very good base and in some areas there has been real innovation. Services provided are well publicised and readily accessible to tenants and leaseholders.
Of the first 1,000 reports published by the Audit Commission from August 2000 to May 2007, just 42 (4.2%) have achieved the top three star rating.
Both Carrick Housing and CityWest Homes have won Housing Excellence Awards before.
Three new themes were announced for the Housing Corporation's Gold Award competition in 2008, being:
Building Cohesive Communities
Entrants to this theme must be able to demonstrate creative and effective plans and policies for bringing together people of different backgrounds, beliefs, interests and cultures in ways that genuinely contribute to the strengthening of communities.
Tackling Worklessness
Entrants will be contributing to the delivery of the national PSA floor target for worklessness and contributing to meeting Local Area Agreement targets for economic development and enterprise. Partnership working with other bodies will feature strongly and there will be clear and measurable evidence of positive outcomes over time.
Delivering Joined-up Development
Entrants to this theme will demonstrate effective and close working relationships with a range of public and statutory partners, which collectively improve both the built and social environment for local communities. Actively linking programmes of development to the provision of services such as education, transport and healthcare, the eventual winners will have done most to ensure their developments are fully integrated with the wider and longer term vision for cohesive and productive neighbourhoods.
A record number of housing associations submitted bids to take part last year - 40% up on the first year of the competition.
Applications for the 2008 awards will be invited from September 2007. Each winning association will receive a cash boost of £50,000 to help fund their involvement in a nine-month programme of knowledge sharing.
The £19 million Supporting People programme provided by Bradford Council for the housing needs of vulnerable people remains poor with poor prospects for improvement, according to an independent report released today by the Audit Commission.
On a scale of zero to three stars, the Audit Commission, in partnership with inspectors from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation and Commission for Social Care Inspection, gave the Council a zero-star poor rating. This follows on from an earlier inspection in January 2006 when the service was assessed as poor with uncertain prospects for improvement.
The inspectors found the following:
A lack of leadership, ambition and purposeful drive in the delivery of the programme.
Governance and management arrangements are not functioning effectively, and there is a lack of clarity in structure, and poor monitoring of both the programme and changes and outputs from it.
A five year Supporting People strategy that is weak in establishing how commissioning priorities will be addressed.
Unacceptably slow progress in the identification of ineligible costs and development of a plan to unlock funding to develop future services.
No opportunities for service users to become involved in shaping and tailoring the strategic aims and arrangements for the programme to meet their needs.
Services are largely the same in nature and scope as when the programme began, with significant needs remaining unmet despite some low levels of re-commissioning of services.
Performance management arrangements are weak, with little evidence of appropriate challenge at governance or operational levels. Improvement is not being driven.
Positive indicators for future improvement include:
There is a very recent impetus at all levels to rapidly progress the programme, which includes the movement of the team to the adult services department.
The development of an improvement plan.
A review of governance structures and the development of a service user involvement strategy.
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:
Improving the governance arrangements for delivery of the programme.
Developing and implementing a performance management framework for monitoring progress, identifying slippage, and driving improvements.
St Leger Homes of Doncaster (Doncaster MBC ALMO):
Two-star good service with promising prospects for improvement.
Gloucester City Council (Gloucester CC ALMO):
Two-star good service with promising prospects for improvement.
Hartlepool Borough Council (Supporting People):
One-star fair service with uncertain prospects for improvement.
The City of London Corporation (Strategic Housing):
Two-star good service with promising prospects for improvement.
West Dorset District Council (Strategic Housing):
Two-star good service with promising prospects for improvement.
Advance Housing and Support:
One-star fair service with promising prospects for improvement.
Elmbridge Housing Trust:
One-star fair service with promising prospects for improvement.
Gallions Housing Association:
Two-star good service with promising prospects for improvement.
Longwood Park Limited:
Two-star good service with excellent prospects for improvement.
Maidstone Housing Trust:
One-star fair service with promising prospects for improvement.
Yorkshire Housing:
One-star fair service with promising prospects for improvement.
Clackmannanshire Council was awarded a fair rating for its housing management, property maintenance and homelessness services. This followed an inspection in November 2006 by inspectors from Communities Scotland in its role as the housing regulator.
Aberdeenshire Housing Partnership has improved its services to tenants. It was awarded B or good for its housing management, and C or fair for its property maintenance, following a re-inspection of its housing services.
After an inspection in June 2003, Aberdeenshire Housing Partnership was awarded D or poor grades in housing management, property maintenance and governance and finance. A re-inspection was undertaken in February 2007 to assess the partnership's progress against its improvement plan, which it put in place after the original inspection.
Perth and Kinross Council has been awarded a fair rating for its housing management and property maintenance, and a poor rating for its homelessness services. This follows an inspection in November and December 2006 by inspectors from Communities Scotland, the housing regulator.
